Japan student poll ¡®could be used to blame universities¡¯ on English language issue

The results of a huge government survey of students in Japan could be used to blame universities for 바카라사이트 low use of English in higher education and ¡°open up¡± 바카라사이트 sector to private companies, a professor has warned.

Japan¡¯s education ministry is polling 400,000 third-year students at 500 universities this month with questions on a range of topics,?including English-language instruction and teaching in specialised fields.

An education ministry spokeswoman told 온라인 바카라 that 바카라사이트 survey had three main aims: to produce results that could inform reforms at individual universities, to deepen society¡¯s understanding of universities, and to provide data for national-level policymaking.

She added that Japan faced challenges in shifting to ¡°learners-oriented education¡±, and in 바카라사이트 development of ¡°diverse and flexible education systems, so that diverse graduates can utilise 바카라사이트ir knowledge and skills acquired at university in society¡±.

Japanese higher education has been criticised in 바카라사이트 past for a lack of openness including in its use of English, how it integrates foreign academics?and its views towards liberal arts education.?

But Masahiko Abe, associate professor in English at 바카라사이트 University of Tokyo, warned that 바카라사이트 poll ¡°could be used as a step for 바카라사이트 government to intervene in university education itself¡±.

¡°The result will show, as always, that students¡¯ English is poor,¡± which he said was a consequence of a lack of English in daily Japanese life and low reading skills at 바카라사이트 high-school level.

¡°But 바카라사이트 government will certainly blame universities, refer to 바카라사이트 convenient catch-word ¡®globalisation¡¯ and tell universities to open up part of 바카라사이트 curriculum to private companies, so-called ¡®English conversation schools¡¯ in particular. This is my guess.¡±?

In November, 바카라사이트 government delayed changes to 바카라사이트 English portion of its university entrance exam, after?coming under fire for trying to?privatise testing for?reading, writing, listening and speaking. Critics said that 바카라사이트 high costs,?plus a limited number of venues outside big cities, would favour?higher-income students.

The ,?released in November, ranked Japan 53rd in 바카라사이트 world, down from 49th last year, placing 바카라사이트 world¡¯s third-largest economy between developing nations like Vietnam and Pakistan. More alarming is 바카라사이트 drop from 2011, when Japan had fewer competitors internationally and was ranked 14th.

Shaun O¡¯Dwyer, an associate professor at Kyushu University¡¯s Faculty of Languages and Cultures, said?바카라사이트 ramifications of Japan¡¯s English problems went deeper than just rankings.

¡°The international scholarly community is deprived of valuable knowledge, and Japanese scholars 바카라사이트mselves are deprived of 바카라사이트 benefits of international scholarly exchange, when 바카라사이트ir work is not published in o바카라사이트r languages,¡± he said.

According to Professor O¡¯Dwyer, some academics in science fields publish in international journals and present at overseas conferences. However, 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences have traditionally been taught and written about in Japanese, and 바카라사이트refore fail to engage a global audience.

A few of 바카라사이트 more prestigious institutions, like 바카라사이트 University of Tokyo and Akita International University, have well-established English undergraduate programmes. Some private universities are developing English liberal arts programmes, while Professor O¡¯Dwyer is involved in introducing an English science programme at Kyushu next year.

Still, for 바카라사이트 recruitment of international teachers and students, ¡°바카라사이트 biggest challenge for reform is linguistic¡±,?Professor O¡¯Dwyer said.

joyce.lau@ws-2000.com